Patrick Ewing

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Patrick Aloysius Ewing (born August 5, 1962) is a Jamaican-born American former NBA player. He played most of his career with the New York Knicks as their starting center.

Contents

1 Early life
2 NBA career

2.1 NBA statistics

3 Trivia
4 See also
5 External links

Early life

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Ewing was 12 years old when he arrived in the United States with his family, settling in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin, a public high school. He went to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.. Ewing is widely recognized as one of the best college basketball players of his era; he helped his Georgetown Hoyas reach the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Final in 1982 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament 1982, 1984, and 1985, winning the championship in 1984.

NBA career

Ewing was selected first overall in the 1985 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks. Although injuries marred his first year in the league, he was named NBA Rookie of the Year by averaging 20 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks per game. Very soon, he became one of the premier centers of the league. Ewing was an eleven time NBA All-Star, was named to the All-NBA First Team once, to the All-NBA Second Team six times and to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team three times. He was a member of the original Dream Team at the 1992 Olympic Games, winning a second gold medal. In 1996, he was also given the honor of being named one the 50 greatest players in NBA history.

The original Dream Team's starters. Top row: Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing (in the centre), Karl Malone; Bottom row: "Magic" Johnson and Michael Jordan.

In spite of all his honors, Ewing never managed to lead the Knicks to an NBA championship. In 1993, it finally seemed the Knicks were on their way to the NBA Finals when they took a 2-0 lead over Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls. However, the Bulls stunned Ewing as they won the next 4 games of the series. It was just one more ringless season Ewing had to deal with, despite the fact that the New York Knicks had the best record in the Eastern Conference with 62 wins and just 20 losses. He was a key contributor to the Knicks' run to the Finals in 1994, in which the Knicks lost in the final seconds of games 6 and 7 to Hakeem Olajuwon's Houston Rockets. It was only the second time in NBA history that a team came from losing 3-2 in the NBA finals and won the next two games to win the championship. The following year, a three-foot finger roll attempt by Ewing rimmed out of the basket in the dwindling seconds of game 7 against the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Given this opportunity, Ewing would usually simply slam dunk the ball, but the fact that he went for a finger roll is one of the things certain fans have never forgotten about him. (The Knicks returned to the NBA Finals in 1999, but Ewing missed the latter part of their playoff run due to an achilles injury). In 2000, he finally left the Knicks, being traded to the Seattle SuperSonics. In the trade, the Knicks sent Ewing to Seattle and Chris Dudley to the Suns, and received Glen Rice, Luc Longley, Travis Knight, Vladimir Stepania, Lazaro Borrell, Vernon Maxwell, two first-round draft picks (from the Los Angeles Lakers and Seattle) and two second-round draft picks from Seattle. This is considered by many to being a major step in the downfall of the relative success of the Knicks. After a year with the Sonics and another with the Orlando Magic, he finally announced his retirement on September 18, 2002. That season, he took a job as an assistant coach with the Washington Wizards.

On February 28, 2003 Patrick Ewing's jersey with number 33 was retired in a large ceremony at Madison Square Garden. Ewing continues to be considered one of the New York Knicks' finest players of all time, as well as one of the greatest in NBA history. Knicks rivalries against the Bulls, Pacers, and Heat, in which Ewing was a centerpiece, were some of the most intense of the decade. Patrick Ewing continues his career as an assistant coach with the Houston Rockets.

NBA statistics

Games: 1,183
Points: 24,815
PPG: 21.0
RPG: 9.8
APG: 1.9
Blk: 2,894
FG%: .504
FT%: .740

Trivia

In attempting to defend the Player's Union position during the NBA lockout in the 1998-1999 season, Ewing alienated many fans by proclaiming, "Yeah, we players make a lot of money, but we spend a lot of money too."
In 1996, Ewing suffered a moment of embarrassment when Muggsy Bogues, who stands a mere 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in), managed to block a shot of 2.10 m (7 ft) Ewing.
Ewing's son, Patrick Ewing, Jr., currently attends his father's alma mater, Georgetown University, where he is sitting out the season (NCAA redshirt rule) after transferring from Indiana University.
His greatest moment arguably came during Game Six of the 1992 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. He would go down with an injury, yet continue playing and upsetting the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls. The Bulls would wrap the series in Game Seven and win the championship against Clyde Drexler's Portland Trail Blazers.
Ewing posted 24 points, 22 rebounds and 7 assists in game 7 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, leading the Knicks to victory over the rival Indiana Pacers. His putback dunk of a John Starks miss in the final moments of that game remains a lasting image of his career.

External links

[Career stats] at www.basketball-reference.com
[Patrick Ewing stats and highlights] at www.knicksonline.com